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McConnell blasts Obama recovery

The ads come as the Kentucky Republican faces pressure from the right to threaten a government shutdown rather than fund the federal health care law. The spots emphasize McConnell’s opposition to “Obamacare” and cite the recent decision by UPS to drop health coverage for 15,000 “working spouses,” a decision the company blamed in part on the ACA.

“It’s tough times for Kentucky families. And now one of Kentucky’s largest employers, forced to cut health care coverage,” the ad says, according to a script shared with POLITICO. “That’s why Sen. McConnell keeps on fighting to dismantle and defund Obamacare.”

The ads, run by a 501(c)4 organization, are not technically electioneering communications; the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition is closely aligned with the pro-McConnell super PAC Kentuckians for Strong Leadership, and the two groups share the same top official.

Republican strategist Scott Jennings said his group’s latest commercials are intended to mobilize support for McConnell’s opposition to the ACA.

“We want to galvanize the public to support Senator Mitch McConnell’s relentless efforts to block, dismantle, delay and defund Obama’s disastrous law,” Jennings said in an email.

The question over funding for Obamacare has quickly become perhaps the most important flashpoint in McConnell’s effort to beat back a primary challenge from Louisville investor Matt Bevin.

Bevin has benefited from outside ads run by the Senate Conservatives Fund, urging McConnell to take a fight-to-the-death approach to ACA funding — and questioning his conservative credentials if he pursues a different course.

The SCF asked its supporters Tuesday to vote on whether they would like to see the group formally endorse Bevin in the primary. That would be a stunning act of rebellion against the top Republican in the U.S. Senate.

Early polls have shown McConnell comfortably ahead in the Republican primary. His opposition to the ACA is expected to be helpful to him in any general election match-up against Alison Lundergan Grimes, the presumptive Democratic nominee.